I guarantee you that you’d say the same thing in 2010 about Bylsma.
Let’s not act like Sullivan isn’t replaceable. If he’s half of the pain in the ass to players as reported, his shelf life is going to be short. The yinzers will blindly defend him for the next 5 years because we just won 2 cups!
Was that because of Sullivan? I tend to think it’s more thanks to JR. We had such a talented roster that the head coach’s job was pretty much don’t **** this up.
I think people tend to overvalue coaches. Please tell me how we could find a 92 point winger with his contract.
Sully is some never has-been that somehow ended up coaching a fantastic roster. I just think a lot of the coaches in this league, if given the rosters of 2016 and 2017 , would do extremely well.
Sully was absolutely terrible last year. He continuously played players that have no business playing in the league because they worked hard. He has that same stupid fascination with grinders.
He’s eerily simailsr to Dan Bylsma and I doubt any of you will see it until years from now. So many posters on this site couldn’t see the glaring issues with Shero and Bylsma.
Bylsma didn't instill an identity. Bylsma didn't have guys buying in. Bylsma was a friend more so than a coach. Bylsma's coaching began and ended with "throw the puck north and hope for the best". There were never any mid-game adjustments, ever. There were never any line matching or anything like that from Bylsma to get Sid or Geno away from the opposition's best. Bylsma was a guy who missed playing/being around the guys so much he refused to actually coach or hold guys accountable for fear of being disliked. You can guarantee all you want, but I was one of the first ones around here to question Bylsma. Bylsma was a fraud from the start, but the polar opposite of the stifling atmosphere of "no fun allowed" hockey under Therrien. Bylsma was just a means for the guys to have fun and do whatever they wanted, and it worked at the time, but it was never a good hockey decision to keep him as coach. As soon as the honeymoon period ended and the new season began after the first Sid/Geno era Cup, and Bylsma had to really work, he was a joke. The Shero/Bylsma era cost us likely one or two more Cups because of their ineptitude, stubbornness, arrogance and damn-near spitefulness with regard to never changing their ways.
Sullivan and Bylsma are nothing alike outside of sharing the odd affinity for certain, underwhelming players. Fun fact: Literally every single coach around the league does that. Every single one. So it's up to JR to make sure the roster has as few weak links like Rowney or Kuhn or Sheary for Sully to misuse. Sullivan's still one of the best coaches in the league, regardless of how annoying his favoritism, line combos, and constant coach-speak can get.
If you think Sully and Bylsma are even remotely close to one another, you're being purposely ignorant. Sully can be annoying at times with his coaching decisions, but to equate the two genuinely just nullifies all credibility anyone has on the subject.